Sonny and Cher, Simon and Garfunkel, Ike and Tina - there have been many great musical pairings. Now it's time to add another to the list - Horsfield and Todd.

The names might be unfamiliar, but Newcastle duo Andy Horsfield, 35, and James Todd, 33, are making huge waves in the music industry.

Their record label Global Underground, specialising in dance music, has only been around for six years but it has grown from shot-in-the-dark to international success, producing records that sell in hundreds of thousands and featuring sets by top DJs.

Andy is vague about the moment he met James back in 1993, even though it changed his life.

"I was having such a great time in Newcastle's clubs and meeting so many different people each week, I can't actually put a date on it. I think James was just a friend of a friend.

"I was a freelance photographer, having set up with a &#xA3;40-a-week grant. Today I am boss of my own record label with offices in London and New York. That's quite a leap."

James agrees. "Things sprang up from nothing. I was living in Fenham and organising 35 machinists in a Gateshead factory making clothes for clubbers. I was mixing dance records in my bedroom and the business consisted of no more than a photocopier and extra tapes."

Andy, then living in Whitley Bay, says: "We began promoting club merchandise. Then one of my friends suggested we come up with a concept for a series of dance music compilations.

"As usual, we'd been having a crazy week. Half an hour before we were due to present our idea to the record company we still hadn't come up with anything.

"Then it hit us: we should combine the two things we love most - travelling and music."

The pair came up with the idea of sending British DJs to exotic destinations, getting them to play live sets and recording the results on CD for the dance-hungry UK music market.

The idea was so well-received they decided to set up their own record company on the back of it. Working in a small office in Westgate Road, Newcastle, in autumn 1996, Todd and Horsfield commissioned London's Ministry of Sound DJ Tony De Vit to play a set in Tel Aviv and employed an independent distributor to peddle 6,000 copies around Britain.

Andy recalls: "That first album went on to sell more than 60,000 copies. Everyone was saying, `Tel Aviv - why Tel Aviv'? And that was exactly the reaction we were after."

Since then, the pair have moved to Quayside flats and made albums with household names in dance music, including DJs Paul Oakenfold and Seb Fontaine.

Last year Global Underground, now with a staff of 17, shifted more than a million albums, more than half of them in America. It has offices in Newcastle, New York, London and Ibiza. The Global Underground website gets more than 500,000 hits each month.

"Looking back it's hard to believe it started so haphazardly, with &#xA3;15 which turned into &#xA3;50, then &#xA3;100," says James. "There was no game plan whatsoever."

Sometimes I get irritated by the fact success has given us a proper job and we're not flying by the seat of our pants any more. But it soon passes."

In 2000, Andy and James appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, Getting Away With It.

Andy says: "After the film, people started recognising me and saying well done. It was great, but I wouldn't like the attention all the time. I'll leave that to the DJs."

Padding around Global Underground's Quayside office barefoot in his denim shirt, Andy doesn't look like a record boss. He might be ruthlessly business-like on the phone but judging from the office kitchen, he eats like an average bloke - breakfast cereal and Cup-a-Soup.

In the music industry James and Andy are affectionately known as the "Fat Geordie Lads" because they have remained so close to their roots.

"I can't imagine never coming back to Newcastle," says James. "Andy and I get on so well because we use the Geordie banter to defuse tension."

The company has a new HQ. It looks like a Manhattan apartment with its minimalist decor but, tucked behind the International Centre for Life, it is within sniffing distance of the Tyne.

James says: "I came to Newcastle in 1987 because it was the city to be in for the dance music and night life. I've loved it ever since."

Andy says: "It's very important to keep the head office in Newcastle. It is a brilliant place to be creative, away from the distractions of London.

"I was born in Glasgow but my mum, Barbara, was from Gateshead and we moved back when I was 11 so I was impressionable enough to become a proper Geordie."

Andy is animated as he talks about the city. Global Underground lost thousands when it supported last year's Love Parade in Newcastle and he was hugely disappointed when it was cancelled. But he stands by his vote of confidence in the North-East.

"I wanted to give something back to the city. Newcastle is a great place for dance music. I can bring the world's best DJs here and they're guaranteed to fall in love with the place. Once it was a bit of a stigma having our head office here. Now it's probably an advantage."

Last September was a low point for the label. Their New York office was closed for a week because of the terrorist attack and in the same week Andy's dad died of cancer.

But this year started well. Andy has been to Hong Kong to promote the label's latest projects and James is heading to Miami to launch an album featuring DJ Steve Lawler. You would guess Global Underground has a rosy future.